1. Title, director and release year? Blind Spot, Adolfo Doring, 2008 2. What is the central argument or narrative of the film? The central argument for this film is that people are not aware of the rate at which we are consuming oil and how our dependency upon it is entirely unsustainable and potentially catastrophic. “Oil is the lifeline of modern society.” Since we have passed the time of peak oil, our reserves are now shrinking and people are not prepared for the effects of such an event. Because of the decline from peak oil, crops such as corn are being diverted from the food industry to the energy industry and therefore spurring the rate until we reach peak food production. This would lead to another important sustainability problem.
3. What sustainability problems does the film draw out? This film draws out many sustainability issues surrounding politics, the economy, media and information, behavior, culture, and most importantly, the environment. The United States government is a major player in why its citizen are so misinformed about the issues surrounding oil usage. While we only account for 4% of the world’s population, the United States consumes 35% of the available oil which is entirely unsustainable. If we are to use oil, we should at least only take our “fair share.” The government has done very little to decrease our consumption of oil through nationwide initiatives, regulations and/or laws. There is also major potential political unrest when the government and economy begin to have difficulty maintaining the lifestyles Americans are accustomed to. As shown throughout history, empires have a tendency to collapse when they expand beyond the capacity to sustain themselves. When oil becomes so low that it will be depleted during the society’s generation, the government will have an angry mob to answer to unless they come up with preventative measures. Oil also causes sustainability problems for the government because much of the oil is in the Middle East, which is full of corrupt leaders and terrorists. By buying oil from them, we are supporting their causes whether we agree with them or not. This puts us in a position where we are dependent upon nations that do not share our ethics. Also, for anyone—especially a government—to be dependent on external contacts for resources is inherently unsustainable because it means we cannot provide for our own population and must take from others to sustain ourselves. This also ties in with the serious economic sustainability issues. Until recently, fossil fuels like oil have been extremely cheap and efficient compared to other alternatives. Now that we have almost reached peak oil, oil has become increasingly expensive and people are outraged. They do not realize that oil has been price well below its true value since it began to be used in everyday life. Our economy is not prepared for reaching peak oil. It is so dependent on oil, it would take multiple generations to alter the economy to accommodate and prepare for the depletion of the world’s oil supply if we wish to avoid the most devastating market crash in history. Oil has infiltrated every aspect of our lives from our cars to our food. Also, “real wages” have remained the same for 3 decades because of inflation and fossil fuels. Because of this, the typical American can only afford “cheap labor products.” The media and the information the public has access to is also a sustainability issue when referring to peak oil. This is because the public has been lead to believe that our oil supply is endless. In a Shell commercial from 1949, the narrator said that oil is in everything. Over $2 billion per year is spent advertising consumerism and the use of oil. “The Blind Spot” refers to something you don’t see because it is not directly related to you. People are not shown how the decrease in oil production directly affects their lives. Also, the oil industry is constantly altering the statistics concerning the availability of oil. This is so the people cannot see the reality of the situation. In addition, the media and other informational sources have promoted “sustainable” alternatives such as biodiesels and corn ethanol when this is also completely unsustainable and really just depletes our food source. Our behavior and culture has also led to an unsustainable use of oil because we act as if oil is available in a never-ending supply. It has taken over 100,000,000 years to create the fuel reserves we have today and in just over 2 centuries, we have substantially depleted these resources. History will be measured by BPO and APO—Before Peak Oil and After Peak Oil, respectively. The use of oil in our culture was spurred by the Industrial Revolution which has had a great hand in shaping our society into the way it is today. A century ago, 50% of the population was made up of farmers and today, there are more people in jail than farming. This hardly seems sustainable to me. Finally, the environment is greatly affected by our dependency on oil. When transporting oil by sea, there have been many oil spills including the one that happened just recently. This pollutes the water and hurts all of the animal and plant life within it. When oil is put in pesticides, it transfers harmful chemicals into our food and runs off into our drinking water. Oil is used to produce a majority of our energy which consequently produces massive amounts of air pollution. Most of our food travels around 1500 miles before it reaches a person’s plate. Just the fuel that goes into transporting these goods is unsustainable. Communities should be able to produce whatever sustenance they require.
4. What parts of the film did you find most persuasive and compelling? Why? I found a majority of the film compelling. I already know that our oil reserves are on the decline so that did not require any persuasion on the part of the film. I thought the commercial by Shell was really funny since it made oil appear to be such a “nice” and “helpful” resource when I believe that it has caused more harm than good. I was also compelled by the opening statement, “The world says you fix it or I will and my way is to get rid of all of you.” I definitely agree with it to certain extent. Our use of oil has led to the decline of the environment’s health. When the earth is no longer “healthy,” it will not be able to support us. I also like the statistics it gave about the efficiency of oil and how it compares to other sources of energy such as solar power, ethanol and biodiesel. It was slightly disheartening that solar energy has about half of the efficiency as oil. It was also interesting that creating biodiesel takes more energy than it can produce.
5. What parts of the film were you not compelled or convinced by? I felt that the film was composed pretty well and did not feel like there were any parts that were irrelevant to the story. Generally, I did find it a little disheartening that this issue seems so widely spread that it cannot be undone. Also, the film did not provide any real suggestions as to how one might go around attempting to fix this issue. From what I understood, it will take willingness on the part of everyone, a major decrease in population, and a few generations to help this issue.
6. What additional information does this film compel you to seek out? Where do you want to dig deeper and what connections do you want to make with other issues, factors, problems, etc.? I would like to learn more about the realities of renewable energy resources and how efficient they are to fossil fuels. I would also like to learn how these sources of energy can be implemented on a large scale and what it would mean to do this in terms of government action and the state of the economy. The film briefly touched on how oil companies are vague when reporting the statistics surrounding our oil reserves and would like the learn more about this issue.
7. What audiences does the film best address? What kind of imagination is fostered in viewers? Do you think the film is likely to change the way viewers think about and act on environmental problems? I think this is a great film for engineers, economists and businessmen—both students and professionals. It can give them an idea of what the effects of our oil consumption can do to a nation and the world. This film can make them understand how their use of and dependency on oil can create problems for future generations if they do not practice environmental responsibility.
8. What kinds of action or points of intervention are suggested by the film? The film did not provide any realistic points of intervention for this issue. However, it did call for a decline in population in a non-violent way. This would solve a number of our sustainability issues, unfortunately, this is a very hard goal to achieve without closely watching and regulating each individual citizen.
9. What could have been added to this film to enhance its environmental educational value? Overall, the film did a very good job at inserting information of environmental educational value. Any more information would have made the film to long and disheartening to bear.
1. Title, director and release year?
Blind Spot, Adolfo Doring, 2008
2. What is the central argument or narrative of the film?
The central argument for this film is that people are not aware of the rate at which we are consuming oil and how our dependency upon it is entirely unsustainable and potentially catastrophic. “Oil is the lifeline of modern society.” Since we have passed the time of peak oil, our reserves are now shrinking and people are not prepared for the effects of such an event. Because of the decline from peak oil, crops such as corn are being diverted from the food industry to the energy industry and therefore spurring the rate until we reach peak food production. This would lead to another important sustainability problem.
3. What sustainability problems does the film draw out?
This film draws out many sustainability issues surrounding politics, the economy, media and information, behavior, culture, and most importantly, the environment. The United States government is a major player in why its citizen are so misinformed about the issues surrounding oil usage. While we only account for 4% of the world’s population, the United States consumes 35% of the available oil which is entirely unsustainable. If we are to use oil, we should at least only take our “fair share.” The government has done very little to decrease our consumption of oil through nationwide initiatives, regulations and/or laws. There is also major potential political unrest when the government and economy begin to have difficulty maintaining the lifestyles Americans are accustomed to. As shown throughout history, empires have a tendency to collapse when they expand beyond the capacity to sustain themselves. When oil becomes so low that it will be depleted during the society’s generation, the government will have an angry mob to answer to unless they come up with preventative measures. Oil also causes sustainability problems for the government because much of the oil is in the Middle East, which is full of corrupt leaders and terrorists. By buying oil from them, we are supporting their causes whether we agree with them or not. This puts us in a position where we are dependent upon nations that do not share our ethics. Also, for anyone—especially a government—to be dependent on external contacts for resources is inherently unsustainable because it means we cannot provide for our own population and must take from others to sustain ourselves.
This also ties in with the serious economic sustainability issues. Until recently, fossil fuels like oil have been extremely cheap and efficient compared to other alternatives. Now that we have almost reached peak oil, oil has become increasingly expensive and people are outraged. They do not realize that oil has been price well below its true value since it began to be used in everyday life. Our economy is not prepared for reaching peak oil. It is so dependent on oil, it would take multiple generations to alter the economy to accommodate and prepare for the depletion of the world’s oil supply if we wish to avoid the most devastating market crash in history. Oil has infiltrated every aspect of our lives from our cars to our food. Also, “real wages” have remained the same for 3 decades because of inflation and fossil fuels. Because of this, the typical American can only afford “cheap labor products.”
The media and the information the public has access to is also a sustainability issue when referring to peak oil. This is because the public has been lead to believe that our oil supply is endless. In a Shell commercial from 1949, the narrator said that oil is in everything. Over $2 billion per year is spent advertising consumerism and the use of oil. “The Blind Spot” refers to something you don’t see because it is not directly related to you. People are not shown how the decrease in oil production directly affects their lives. Also, the oil industry is constantly altering the statistics concerning the availability of oil. This is so the people cannot see the reality of the situation. In addition, the media and other informational sources have promoted “sustainable” alternatives such as biodiesels and corn ethanol when this is also completely unsustainable and really just depletes our food source.
Our behavior and culture has also led to an unsustainable use of oil because we act as if oil is available in a never-ending supply. It has taken over 100,000,000 years to create the fuel reserves we have today and in just over 2 centuries, we have substantially depleted these resources. History will be measured by BPO and APO—Before Peak Oil and After Peak Oil, respectively. The use of oil in our culture was spurred by the Industrial Revolution which has had a great hand in shaping our society into the way it is today. A century ago, 50% of the population was made up of farmers and today, there are more people in jail than farming. This hardly seems sustainable to me.
Finally, the environment is greatly affected by our dependency on oil. When transporting oil by sea, there have been many oil spills including the one that happened just recently. This pollutes the water and hurts all of the animal and plant life within it. When oil is put in pesticides, it transfers harmful chemicals into our food and runs off into our drinking water. Oil is used to produce a majority of our energy which consequently produces massive amounts of air pollution. Most of our food travels around 1500 miles before it reaches a person’s plate. Just the fuel that goes into transporting these goods is unsustainable. Communities should be able to produce whatever sustenance they require.
4. What parts of the film did you find most persuasive and compelling? Why?
I found a majority of the film compelling. I already know that our oil reserves are on the decline so that did not require any persuasion on the part of the film. I thought the commercial by Shell was really funny since it made oil appear to be such a “nice” and “helpful” resource when I believe that it has caused more harm than good. I was also compelled by the opening statement, “The world says you fix it or I will and my way is to get rid of all of you.” I definitely agree with it to certain extent. Our use of oil has led to the decline of the environment’s health. When the earth is no longer “healthy,” it will not be able to support us. I also like the statistics it gave about the efficiency of oil and how it compares to other sources of energy such as solar power, ethanol and biodiesel. It was slightly disheartening that solar energy has about half of the efficiency as oil. It was also interesting that creating biodiesel takes more energy than it can produce.
5. What parts of the film were you not compelled or convinced by?
I felt that the film was composed pretty well and did not feel like there were any parts that were irrelevant to the story. Generally, I did find it a little disheartening that this issue seems so widely spread that it cannot be undone. Also, the film did not provide any real suggestions as to how one might go around attempting to fix this issue. From what I understood, it will take willingness on the part of everyone, a major decrease in population, and a few generations to help this issue.
6. What additional information does this film compel you to seek out? Where do you want to dig deeper and what connections do you want to make with other issues, factors, problems, etc.?
I would like to learn more about the realities of renewable energy resources and how efficient they are to fossil fuels. I would also like to learn how these sources of energy can be implemented on a large scale and what it would mean to do this in terms of government action and the state of the economy. The film briefly touched on how oil companies are vague when reporting the statistics surrounding our oil reserves and would like the learn more about this issue.
7. What audiences does the film best address? What kind of imagination is fostered in viewers? Do you think the film is likely to change the way viewers think about and act on environmental problems?
I think this is a great film for engineers, economists and businessmen—both students and professionals. It can give them an idea of what the effects of our oil consumption can do to a nation and the world. This film can make them understand how their use of and dependency on oil can create problems for future generations if they do not practice environmental responsibility.
8. What kinds of action or points of intervention are suggested by the film?
The film did not provide any realistic points of intervention for this issue. However, it did call for a decline in population in a non-violent way. This would solve a number of our sustainability issues, unfortunately, this is a very hard goal to achieve without closely watching and regulating each individual citizen.
9. What could have been added to this film to enhance its environmental educational value?
Overall, the film did a very good job at inserting information of environmental educational value. Any more information would have made the film to long and disheartening to bear.